Starting Monday, Marylanders will be able to sign up for or change their ACA health insurance plans. However, the price tag is going to look significantly different than last year as premium rates continue to rise.
Maryland’s open enrollment for public health plans will stay open until Jan. 15, 2027.
Residents can log onto Maryland Health Connection, the state insurance marketplace, to sign up for plans offered by four different companies, including CareFirst, Kaiser Permanente, Wellpoint and UnitedHealthCare.
Those who sign up for plans by the end of the year will have their insurance start on Jan. 1. Those who sign up after that will have their plans start in February.
Marylanders may see sticker shock this year though as plans have increased by double digit percentages for the last two years.
This year premiums for ACA plans in the state went up an average 14.6%.
The increase is the second year in a row the state has seen substantial increases to premiums. Last year, premium rates increased 13.4%.
The rates for 2027 are even higher than what insurance companies had initially proposed back in June.
MIA Commissioner Marie Grant told WYPR there are multiple factors leading to the premium hike.
“That increase is driven by changes from H.R. 1 as well as rising hospitalization and pharmaceutical costs,” Grant said.
H.R. 1 is also known as the Republican spending and tax law dubbed the Big, Beautiful Bill.
The increases over the last two years have been hefty compared to usual rate increases that hovered around 8%.
“The primary drivers of rising premiums are continued increases in medical and prescription drug costs. Hospital costs are trending upward by 7.8%, professional services by 8.6%, and prescription drugs by 14.8%,” a press release from MIA states.
More than a quarter of a million Marylanders use the ACA marketplace for insurance. Maryland is still faring well compared to other states. It offers the lowest bronze- and gold-level premiums in the nation.
Maryland also offers a handful of subsidies to young people and people who are below 400% of the federal poverty level.
Vincent DeMarco, president of Maryland Healthcare for All!, said he’s disappointed that Marylanders will pay higher premiums and blamed it on bad decisions by the Trump administration and Congress.
“This is exacerbated by rising hospitalization and pharmaceutical costs. We commend Governor Wes Moore and his Administration, particularly the Department of Health and Insurance Division, for doing all they can to protect Marylanders from these bad actions,” DeMarco said. “Many other states are seeing even worse outcomes because unlike Maryland they lack a reinsurance program or state subsidy program.”
Maryland and other states are seeing the impacts of rising costs.
The state saw an 8% disenrollment rate from people unable to pay for their ACA health care plans from January to the end of March, which translates to about 18,000 residents.
Next year will bring new unknowns into the insurance market as H.R. 1’s new requirements for Medicaid go into effect, which will likely kick millions off of its rolls.
Source: www.wypr.org
